Kuantan MP challenges Najib to Lynas debate

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PETALING JAYA: Fuziah Salleh of PKR has challenged Prime Minister Najib Razak to a debate on the issue of Lynas, after he said the opposition only used it to serve their political needs during the last general election.

Fuziah, who is Kuantan MP, refuted this claim, saying PKR had been consistently raising the issue of the Australian mining company Lynas Corporation in Parliament for almost a decade although the general election was over.

“We have not been silent. The ministers in Parliament don’t want to answer me anymore.

“So now, I would like to challenge Najib to a debate on this (Lynas), anytime, anywhere. I’m not scared even if it’s in Pekan.

“He (Najib) is the one who started it, so he must finish this. Or at least he must justify what he means when he says the opposition is lying to the people of Kuantan,” she told FMT.

Najib, who is Pekan MP, told Umno members at an event there today that the opposition had lied to Kuantan folk about the dangers posed by the Lynas rare earth refinery. He said the opposition had used the issue of Lynas as a political tool during the last general election.

Najib also said the opposition’s claim that Lynas was a nuclear power plant, and would emit dangerous levels of radiation, was an exaggeration as the levels produced were very low according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Fuziah however refuted Najib’s claims, saying, “I never referred to Lynas as a nuclear power plant. The issue has always been about the ‘radioactive waste management’ by Lynas which BN ministers have always tried to avoid answering.

“To speak about radiation is BN’s way of diverting (attention) from the real issue. When confronted with the issue in Parliament, the minister fumbled and had no answer.

“They (BN) were the ones who promised to return Lynas’ radioactive waste to Australia. So who is it that used Lynas as an issue prior to GE13?” Fuziah asked.